What Does This Mean To Us Today?
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| Business As Usual? |
There is one more considerable doctrinal gap between the East and the West. Aquinas and others considered the descent into hell a one-time event that was specific and relevant to only those people who were there at that time. In fact, after he left, even the memory of that event faded and had no lasting impression. In this view, which still holds in most Western Churches today, hell is still operating as it always has: a holding place for the unbaptized innocents, punishment for the unrepentant sinner (and those who never accepted Christ) and, for those who still hold to the idea of Purgatory, a place of atonement for the repentant yet imperfect sinner. Christ may have ‘taken a bite’ out of it when he took the Old Testament faithful away, but those losses are nothing compared to the gains accrued since.
The Eastern Church has a pretty different outlook. Many Eastern theologians viewed Christ’s descent as having far reaching implications, not only for those there at that moment in time, but for everyone since then as well. In his conquering of death and the destruction of hell, Christ now holds the keys and has left the gates of hell open. While he did not force anyone to leave, the gates are still open and redemption is still possible. Hell has become a “prison for the devil himself as well as for those who have voluntarily decided to stay with him and share his fate.” Yet this does not have to be the final fate for those or for those who have since died outside the faith. Archpriest Serge Bulgakov writes:
all events in the life of Christ, which happen in time, have timeless abiding significance. Therefore, the so-called “preaching in hell”, which is the faith of the Church, is a revelation of Christ to those who in their earthly life could not see or know Christ. There are no grounds for limiting this event to the Old Testament saints alone, as Catholic theology does. Rather, the power of this preaching should be extended to all time for those who during their life on earth did not and could not know Christ but meet him in the afterlife.
This begs the question, is it possible for one’s fate to be changed after death or is death the final border, beyond which existence becomes static?
The Eastern idea is that the Church, founded by Christ, is called to continue the work of salvation. As members of the Body of Christ, each of us plays a role in this. Because the redemptive work of Christ extends to everyone everywhere and not just to the chosen (or elect) the church has a “universal” element to it. The church, as a result, is interested not only in those who are “in” it, but all of those outside of it as well. Orthodox teaching also states that the fate of a person after death can still be changed by the prayers of the church. Therefore, special prayers are offered up on Pentecost for the “captive in hell”:
O Master of all, Lord our God.. who have also been pleased on this most perfect and saving Feast to receive suppliant prayers of atonement for those who are immured in hell.. hear us, lowly and wretched, who entreat you, and give rest to the souls of your servants who have fallen asleep before us in a place of light...
Just as Christ could change the fate of those he found in hell at his descent, so this mercy continues within the work of the church. God’s grace still extends to that place, thwarted only by man’s obstinate free will.
Whether we accept a Western or Eastern view of how hell still operates post-Descent, the one thing in common with the majority opinion of both views is that people are still going there. How they get there and what happens then is another discussion, but as the Church, we should not think about this subject as just an academic exercise. There are real people all around us facing very real, possibly eternal, consequences. Whatever stance we take on this issue will affect the way that we treat others, the way we preach and how we counsel. Ultimately, our goal is to make disciples, which hopefully gets us around the problem, but in the process we can’t afford to ignore it either. While we may still have questions, there is one thing that we do know and do agree upon, that since the Resurrection, the way of salvation has been opened to all - and that is good news.
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